1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the soft pedal of an upright piano or more specifically the mechanism that are triggered by depressing the soft pedal of an upright piano. Depressing the soft pedal causes the playing of the piano to occur at a lower volume than that without depressing the soft pedal.
When the soft pedal is depressed to reduce the volume of the piano, a detrimental effect called “lost motion” occurs, where the piano key is depressed without any resulting motion of the hammer of the piano action. Lost motion is undesirable by the pianist. This invention removes lost motion resulting from the soft pedal of an upright piano.
2. Description of Related Art
The soft pedal mechanism reduces piano playing volume by rotating the entire row of hammers of a piano action slightly towards the piano strings, thereby moving the hammers of the piano actions closer to the piano strings. This rotation results in less distance for the hammers to travel in order to strike the piano strings, yielding less time for the hammers to accelerate before striking the piano strings. This results in lower piano volumes brought about by lower energy hammer strikes on the piano strings.
As discussed in detail below, the rotation of the hammers in the piano causes gaps to appear between the jacks and the hammer butts of the piano actions. This gap is what creates lost motion. This invention is a device that attaches to each piano action of an upright piano that functions to rotate the row whippens along with the row of hammers in order to close the gap that causes lost motion.